Subtext
by Native Angel
Summary: Brennan POV. It's the subtext that gets her everytime.


Title: Subtext (1/1)

Author: Sara

Pairing: Booth/Brennan

Spoilers: Season 2 of Bones

Disclaims: All hail Twentieth Century Fox and Kathy Reichs. I own nothing (cries)…

Rating: K

Summary: Brennan POV. It's the subtext that gets her every time.

She's out of her element, and she can't deny it. She watches Angela and Hodgins. The Jeffersonian's resident entomologist confided his love for her best friend to her under the direst circumstances, and logic would dictate a reunion for the two in the aftermath, yet they are still apart. They possess compatible character traits and integrity, yet the desire to not interfere with the integrity of their work unit is something that Brennan can respect. There must be something in the subtext that she is missing, because she still catches Angela throwing looks at Hodgins mystifies her.

No, she just doesn't get it.

She can recite from memory the initiation rites of the Yao people of Malawai, but the subtleties of human courtships still leaves her shaking her head in puzzlement.

She prefers the slight smell of antiseptic in her lab, the dryness of her latex gloves, the crisp cotton of her lab coat, the cut and dried language of the bones which resonates on such a profound level for her (if she were of a poetic bent, she might even be tempted to say that the bones sing a particular song to her).

She intently studies her current project, determining the sex of a skull who's cranial and post-cranial features appear to be male, while the mandible would appear to have come from a female. Her fingers itch in anticipation of sorting out this particularly knotty puzzle. Perhaps she will even publish her findings in the _Journal of Forensic Science_. She misses the challenges of academia, at times.

A figure crosses her line of vision with ground-eating strides. _Booth,_ she off-handedly notes. He must have been looking for Cam, because he walks by without acknowledging her, which would have annoyed her to no end had she not been absorbed in her perusal of the skull.

The relationship of her partner quietly fascinates her for reasons she doesn't allow herself to dwell upon. Brennan is nothing if not iron-willed and disciplined.

She knows he has cancelled his plans with Cam several times in the interest of a case that he is working on with Brennan. In all fairness, however, he has postponed his work several times to make more time for her superior. The part that she doesn't understand is the _looks_ Cam seems to be so fond of sending her these days, trying to communicate a message Brennan can't decipher.

Brennan has never been good at interpersonal relationships, and after the disappearance of her parents and the subsequent desertion by Russ she retreated even further into herself. Her friendship with Angela and partnership with Booth challenged the walls of logic, facts, and reason she had erected as a lonely teenager who spent far too much time in her own head. And for all of Angela's attempts to drag her (kicking and screaming at times) from her cerebral preoccupations, the situation with Cam and her _silent messages_ and Booth leaves her longing for the comfort of her former solitary existence.

She pushes aside these troubled musings, determinedly gnawing her lower lip as she studies the cranial sutures with renewed intensity. Her interest does not hold for long, as she becomes aware of a presence just behind her.

It could only be Booth, for he owns the space that surrounds him with a singularity that defies the logic of her neatly ordered world. He commands her attention without a word, and she quietly resents this power of his.

She ignores him, and takes a moment to reorder her existence. In the span of that moment, he clears his throat and impatiently barks, "Bones."

He sounds impatient and rushed, and she is only half-listening as he relates the details of their latest case. Her interest is piqued, however, with the news that a partially decomposed torso has been found and needs identification. She finally turns and looks up at him, and he grins, satisfied that he finally has her undivided attention. If she didn't know any better, she would think that he is smiling because he has finally gotten the knack of managing her.

With one last look of longing at the fascinating skull, she allows herself to be ushered into her office to retrieve her jacket.

As they move from her office to the bank of elevators leading to the parking complex, she notices Cam standing off to the side, her eyes silently observing Booth's large and graceful frame. With a sense of dread, Brennan catches Cam's gaze, and she seems to be trying to silently _communicate_ again.

Brennan doesn't think she wants to know what messy scene must surely have played out between her boss and Booth, because Booth is not even acknowledging Cam's existence. She silently resents them both for putting her in this position. She toys with idea of having a conversation with Booth about these turn of events, but she quickly rejects it out of hand. Cam is her boss, and not quite her friend. Even though she has seen a look similar to the own Cam now wears mirrored in her own face the last time she saw Michael Stires, Booth still commands the lion's share of her loyalty.

As Booth silently angles his Escalade through the streets of Washington, her thoughts turn inward once again. She finds herself randomly pondering the Japanese custom of Omiai, wherein parents hire a matchmaker to provide pictures and a resume of qualifications of a potential suitor for their child. In Brennan's estimation, this process seems much more forthright for all parties involved. She considers positing this theory to Booth, but she has the sneaking suspicion that he would not welcome her observation at this particular juncture.

Instead, she focuses on the way he grips the steering wheel and the combined smell of his sweat and aftershave fills her nostrils. Booth looks over at her and smiles and Brennan relaxes the tension in her shoulders.

And then the damn flutterings in her stomach begin.


End file.
